The DesignTO Festival will be returning to Toronto to celebrate its 15th anniversary.
The festival, which will be taking place from January 24 to February 2, 2025, will feature over 100 free events, installations, tours, talks and exhibitions by more than 300 designers and artists.
“It’s incredible to see how much we’ve grown,” said Jeremy Vandermeij, executive director and co-founder of DesignTO. “We’ve welcomed over one million attendees, reached 2.6 billion people through media, supported more than 6,500 artists, and generated $120 million in tourism spending. And there’s more to come!”
DesignTO supports a vision of design that is more than aesthetics, but that rather aims to be a tool for problem-solving, solution-building, organized change, experimenting, innovating and evolving toward a better future.
This year’s festival will put a spotlight on how design impacts joy, justice, and sustainability.
From immersive experiences that help the community slow down and reconnect to artworks addressing endangered creative practices, DesignTO will offer many ways to participate in the festival schedule.
The festival will kick off with an official launch party on January 24, which will feature a one-night-only installation by Toronto-based artist Asli Alin. It will also offer guests an opportunity to see ‘REVIVE,’ a DesignTO-curated group exhibition featuring the work of seven local and international artists and designers.
From January 1 to 31, 2025, there will be an exhibition of photos that explore ideas of the self through costuming by Toronto-based, Ghanaian-Nigerian photographer and visual artist Delali Cofie on five digital screens at Sankofa Square (formerly Yonge and Dundas Square).
The festival will also feature Studio Rat’s immersive inflatable installation and lighting concept quilted from reclaimed waste plastics at 55 St. Clair Avenue West, and a site-specific installation at the Mason Studio Cultural Hub that emphasizes sensory extremes.
Organized by DesignTO in partnership with the Toronto Society of Architects, ‘Ideas Forum: Labour in Architecture’ will take place virtually. It will feature five fast-paced presentations representing diverse organizational structures, including co-operative, union, and employee-owned. It will also feature a BIPOC Portfolio Collaboration hosted by Gensler, and an installation by Christopher Rouleau called “Amazon Sucks” that will take place at 918 Danforth Ave.
This year’s DesignTO festival will also feature a talk on sustainability, a design exhibition called “Dwell,” that will offer opportunities to slow down and connect in Union Station and Wind Up Radio’s video and sound installation/cautionary message from the Server Farms of Miscellanea at the Drake Hotel.
For more information and to view the full schedule, click here.
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